Review of the Zus Smart Car Charger from Nonda

Summary

Zus is a smart car charger that not only charges 2 devices at once at maximum speed, meets military spec standards, keeps cool whilst charging and has lighted USB ports but also locates your car for you without using cellular data

Our Rating

Have you ever parked your car and then forgotten where exactly you left it? I know I have. For me this happens most often when I’m in an unfamiliar environment – parking on a side street in an unfamiliar city, or in a huge car park at an airport or train station. This makes it extra stressful when I have to start hunting for my car. The Zus smart car charger is a great solution to this problem, it not only charges 2 devices at once from your car cigarette lighter socket, but also helps you find your way back to your car!

The Zus has a sleek and stylish design, but doesn’t just look good, its smart too! It works with a free Smartphone app– available for both iPhone and Android, I tested the iPhone version.

Before using it for the first time you need to download the app, then when you are in the car plug the Zus into the car, launch the app and pair it to your phone. After the first time you no longer need to think about it, you don’t even need to have the app open until its time to find your car. The app runs in the background, as long as Zus is plugged in it detects your phone when you start the car, and when you switch off the engine it automatically saves your location. When its time to find your car just open the app and a large compass-style needle shows you which direction your car is in and how far away. Then you just follow the arrow until you find your car. If you can’t walk in a straight line due to buildings or objects, that is fine, just walk in the general direction and it will keep adjusting for you new location. It can’t tell you which floor you are on in a multi-story car park, so you still need to remember that. I did find occasional spurious readings, where the direction or distance was off for a short time but it corrected itself very quickly (in a few steps) when that happened and overall did a great job of locating my car. I love that it works via GPS and doesn’t require you to have a wifi or cellphone signal which is great if you are traveling.

Zus is also a great car charger – it will charge 2 devices at once, delivering up to 4.8 A total. It detects the maximum amperage your device will accept and is powerful enough to charge 2 iPads or an iPhone and iPad simultaneously at maximum charging speed. I tested the output from the Zus vs the output from a variety of other chargers I had in my car. When charging an iPad the Zus consistently had a higher output than the other chargers, even vs hi- quality brand name chargers it had 5-10% higher output and 100% higher vs the generic charger. It has titanium coated parts and is the only car charger to meet US Military MIL-STD-810G High Temperature Standard. This means it keeps cooler as it charges, which is better for the Zus’ longevity. Zus also has lights inside both USB ports, making it easier to plug in your charging cords at night.

Overall, I’m very impressed with all the features in this car charger – for under $30 you can quickly charge 2 devices simultaneously, it stays cool when charging,its easy to find the ports in the dark and helps you find your car! I love how it saves my car location without me having to think about it, and that it does so without using wifi or cellular data.

Zus is currently available on Indiegogo for less than $30 with delivery before Xmas. It has smashed its funding goal, it is almost 2,000% funded at time of writing, and is aiming for a stretch goal of $250k to add on a parking time alert. You can view their Indiegogo campaign, and order Zus by following this link. Update: Zus was fully funded and can now be ordered from nonda.com

NOTE: A product was supplied by the company for review purposes, no other form of compensation was received, all opinions stated in the review are those of the author and have been offered honestly.

Mary is originally from England but now lives in California with her husband, dog, cat and three children. Mary and her family love Apple products and own an iPad2, iPad3, iPad Mini, iTouch, iPhone5 and several MacBook Pros. They also love cub scouts, skiing, camping and hiking. The family iPads are also used for therapy for their daughters Apraxia (speech disorder).

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